Random thoughts from the mind, about whatever interests me at the time.

If you want AT&T's fastest internet you must allow them to track you

Source - AT&T officially launched its U-verse with GigaPower 1 Gbps fiber to the home
(FTTH) service in Austin, but customers who want the $70 a month option
must agree to have their Internet searches tracked.
"Customers can choose to receive our best price on U-verse with
GigaPower by opting into AT&T Internet Preferences and selecting our
Premier offer," AT&T said on their GigaPower page.
"With AT&T Internet Preferences, you allow us to use your web
browsing activity (where you go on the web) to provide you with more
relevant offers and advertising."
Eligible customers will be able to choose from two FTTH service options: Premier and Standard.
Premier will provide customers with 300 Mbps for $70 a month and
includes the waiver of equipment, installation and activation
fees. Customers who want a double play bundle of Internet and U-verse TV
will get free HBO for 36 months and HD service for $120 per month with
qualifying TV services.
Standard will also offer customers up to 300 Mbps for $99 a month
with the option to upgrade to the 1 Gbps tier when it becomes available
next year at no extra cost. What's more, U-verse with GigaPower
customers that have a wireless subscription will get 50 GB of free cloud
storage.
Users can also purchase a triple play bundle of voice, video and data for $150 a month.
The service provider said that it will expand the availability of
U-verse with GigaPower beyond parts of Austin area neighborhoods such as
French Place, Mueller, Zilker and Onion Creek in 2014. Similar to the
signup process Google Fiber has taken in Kansas City, Austin residents will be able to vote for their neighborhood at www.att.com/gigapower.
What makes Austin a ripe target for the 1 Gbps FTTH service is that
its residential and business sector has consumed more bandwidth than any
of the other markets where it offers its U-verse broadband service.
"The economics are really starting on fiber deployments to homes, and
communities like Austin where utilization of broadband runs so much
higher than other parts of the country are very attractive," said
Randall Stephenson, CEO and chairman of AT&T during the UBS Global
Media and Communications Conference. "There a lot of other geographies
around the country where we are looking at these experiences and saying
"we want to go do more of this."
While he did not cite any specific future plans, Stephenson added
that Austin won't be the last community where they will build out FTTH.
"You're going to probably see us do more of these Austin-type projects in the future," he said.